


A Group of One

by mar (gloomyghost)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suicide, all i can write about is depressed boys with crow themes, trans akechi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-17 17:36:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16100501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloomyghost/pseuds/mar
Summary: What was a group of crows called again? A murder?He could almost laugh at that, but it didn't quite fit. That was for a group, but him? He was all alone. His own group of one, not yet a murder. But still, an omen of death.





	1. Fledgling

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is gonna be about akechi, and will contain spoilers for p5! going through most of akechi's story, specifically his relationship with akira. warning, this chapter has a description of suicide.

**fledge**

_to acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent activity_

 

Hadn't he done that a while ago? He didn't have a choice. He was a fledgling from the moment he was born. Shoved by cruel adults into independence. Before he was ready, before he even had the faintest hint of what childhood should be. This was treated as a good thing by those around him.

"Oh  _she's_ just so responsible."

"What a little helper."

He bristled at their words, as if they were a series of hot spikes along his back. He didn't think this was a good thing, and he hated how they all insisted on treating him like a girl. He knew he wasn't. They just didn't listen. Did adults ever?

He stood up on the tips of his toes, gently tapping the small buttons of the microwave. Putting his finger to the start button, his dinner began to spin on the small circular plate. He looked away quickly, not wanting to catch a glimpse of his reflection in the glass on the door. His heart pounded, and he could feel it in his chest, his neck, and hear it in his ears. Despite his best efforts, he had caught a glimpse of himself.

He had always been told that he just looked so much like his mother. He didn't want to look like her. Especially as she was now. Thoughts of her made his eyes slide over to her bedroom door, the room where she spent almost all of her time. He understood that she was sad, but he wasn't quite sure why. She was though, so sad that it made her look worse and worse, and made it so she stayed in her room, not taking care of him.

The electronic beep of the microwave made him jump, and his red eyes widen slightly. Had he really just been inside his head for a whole three minutes? He retrieved his dinner, which was almost too hot to hold, and stirred it with a fork. It was flavorless mush with too much salt. As he began to eat, he could hear water running in his mother's bathroom. She must've been taking a bath.

 

Dinner passed, sleep came for him, pulling him deep into shadows. He woke up, got ready for school. Just going through the motions that made up his life. He opened his mother's door, his daily ritual of saying goodbye. Saying I love you. Did he mean it? Did she? He had no idea. She wasn't in her bed, but the bathroom door was closed, a sliver of light peaked out from under the door. He knocked on the door and softly called for her. No response. He knocked again, waited, still nothing. Maybe she had just left the light on, but then, where was she?

He pushed the door open and glanced around. The sudden flash of red caught his eye immediately. The bath water was stained dark red, and his mother was inside it, still in her clothes. Was she sleeping? No... No something was wrong here. She had deep cuts on her wrists, what happened to her? Did someone hurt her? He remembered things he had seen on TV. When someone was badly hurt, and especially when someone hurt them, they'd call the police! They would help wouldn't they? He stumbled out of the room, wanting to look away, but unable to. Even if he did, the image was burned into his brain. It was wrong... All of it was just wrong. He couldn't process it. He felt the phone in his hand, but couldn't remember the actual process of walking there, or picking up the phone. Everything was hazy, blurry.

The police showed up soon after, or perhaps it was a long time. He was just sitting outside his mother's bedroom, back against the door frame. He couldn't feel, couldn't think. All he knew was that his life was going to change for the worse. And he would have to take care of himself even more. The little crow was shoved out of the nest.

 

 

 


	2. Fly Away

He was passed around, never having a true home, not anywhere... Not since his mother had.... She had....

It hurt too much for him to think about it, so he tried not to. All he knew was that these new 'homes' could only be called that in the loosest definition of the word. They were just a place to stay, not anywhere where he could feel safe or welcome. That upset him at first, but now he knew better. There are some people in this world that just don't belong anywhere.

Goro Akechi was one of those people.

The only comfort he found was in the things from the houses that he occasionally heard. It wasn't a comfort yet... But it would be. He knew the name. The name of the man who had made his mother hurt herself so badly.

_Masayoshi Shido._

He would destroy him. He didn't yet know how. He knew only that he would, and that was all that mattered to him.

 

He blinked his eyes open, a few strands of his light brown hair tickling his face.

_Dreaming about the past again._

He knew that wouldn't do him any good. He had to look to the future, to what he would accomplish. What he _had_ to accomplish. It was all he had anymore. He sat up in his bed and proceeded to get ready. Again just, going through the motions.

_Just like every other day._

When he got his revenge on that scumbag Shido, where would he go from there? What would he do? Would he even have a purpose...? Perhaps it was better to not think on it for now.

 

As he walked into the TV station, preparing himself for what was to come, he heard talking. He walked over, seeing three Shujin students and...

Was that a cat in the tall boy's backpack? Wait... Hadn't he heard four voices?

The group made him uneasy in a way that he couldn't quite describe, and he tried to find an excuse to leave as soon as he could. Of course, he knew he would see them later, as he was filming, but he wouldn't have to interact with them at all.

_"How about this young man? What do you think of the Phantom Thieves?"_

Why him? Out of all the students, they had to pick the one that made him feel so uneasy? The Shujin student stared straight at Akechi. Was it a glare? Was he just imagining it? What was he going to say? It felt like the air was being sucked out of the room, and he didn't know why. A smirk went across the young man's face.

_"They do more than the cops."_

Polite laughter from the other students, and from the hosts.

Akechi couldn't quite keep his focus on what was happening. He finally managed to say something back, and say it when he felt like he was fully there.

"Well what if your friend beside you were to have a change of heart? Would you think it was the Phantom Thieves that did it?"

He responded without hesitation or uncertainty.

_"They only target criminals."_

How could he be so sure? Most others when talking to him would hold back a bit with their true opinions, to not insult the 'detective prince.'

He did no such thing. He may make Akechi uncomfortable as all hell, but he could be... Useful. To hear a completely honest opinion once in a while, maybe that wouldn't be so bad... Perhaps they could make some sort of deal. After all, Akechi always seemed to find himself at his best when he was close to those he was most uncomfortable with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (5.13.2019) heya so. it's been a while. i wanna redo this fic so keep an eye out for that in the future! it'll probably have a different title and stuff. i'm just leaving this up for comparison


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